“Love and Information” with Trap Door Theatre

Trap Door Theatre is currently performing Caryl Churchill’s Love and Information as a part of their 26th  season. With direction by Kim McKean and an ensemble of nine performers, the production seeks to analyze how the over-saturation of media has enhanced and weakened modern day relationships between humans. The performance succeeds in presenting this theme with an interesting twist that I will elaborate on later; however, the unfinished framing technique as well as an inconsistent ensemble may leave some audience members uninspired. 

Members of an Exclusive Club

Five Presidents – American Blues Theater

Rick Cleveland’s fictionalized docudrama, which is generously laced with comic zingers and one-liners that lighten the subject, imagines a 90-minute get-together between past presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and the current Leader of the Free World, Bill Clinton. The year is 1994 and the setting is a gathering room in the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California, tastefully designed by Grant Sabin and nicely lit by Alexander Ridgers. The occasion for this meeting is the funeral of President Richard Nixon. Even though these five men would’ve greeted each other on this occasion, it’s unlikely that they spent an hour and a half talking together about so many different topics. 

Masters of Our Fate

Be Here Now – Shattered Globe Theatre

Set in a small town in upstate New York, Bari is a cynical former college professor, who taught a course in nihilism. She’s lowered her standards by working to make ends meet at a chotchke shop that deals in religious souvenirs, that are made in China. She’s suffering from writer’s block when it comes to finishing her dissertation. But she’s also suffering from severe, debilitating headaches that often result in seizures. Bari radiates negativity about everything in life and it deeply troubles her longtime friend and coworker, Patty Cooper, as well as a young, tirelessly optimistic newcomer to the mail order warehouse, Luanne.

Another Trip to the Bright Side of Life

Spamalot – Mercury Theatre

At some point in this hilarious musical, the plot simply goes out the window and unbridled hilarity and bawdy humor takes over the Mercury Theater stage. Eric Idle’s brilliant adaptation of his  popular film, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” which features an infectious score by both Idle and John DuPrez, won the coveted Tony Award for Best Musical in 2005. The show first hit the boards in its Chicago PreBroadway preview. It went on to become a Big Apple and West End hit, as well as everywhere around the world.

Try to Remember When Everything Was Fantastick

The Fantasticks – Skokie Theatre

17,162 performances running over 42 years off-Broadway at a Greenwich Village Playhouse. It played from 1960 to 2002 and is listed in the Guiness Book of World Records for longest uninterrupted running play at the same theatre. As if that wasn’t enough, it was revived off-Broadway from 2006-2017. There are also approximately 250 new high school and community productions put on each year since its premiere. Obviously, this play has staying power. There must be a reason. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. 
This production, running from September 6 to October 6 at the legendary Skokie Theatre was a pleasure to observe. As anyone will assume (correctly), we have not been to a substantial amount of the thousands of performances enjoyed by so many over the decades. But still, we feel that this one should stand out for several reasons. 

“At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen” with The Story Theatre

For their second season, The Story Theatre has opened  At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen, written by Terry Guest, their current season’s resident playwright. You will be attending Courtney Berringers’ funeral, but with a twist. Before burying and laying her to rest, we must revisit the truths and the lies of Berringers’ life. Instead of a night of somber respect and lowered eyes with hands clasped in laps, it is a celebration of queerness, blackness, and identity told through traditional scenes as well as direct monologues and drag numbers and stagecraft.  Directed by Mickael Burke, this fascinating, captivating, and heart-wrenching examination of the concepts organic, inorganic, and the combination of both inspires the audience to evaluate the presence of these concepts in their own lives. 

A Midsummer Dream

Midsummer – Greenhouse Theater Center and Proxy Theatre

Helena is sitting at a bar in Edinburgh, Scotland, making her way through a bottle of wine, having just been stood up by her boyfriend. Bob is sitting in the same bar, reading Dostoevsky to cheer himself up. Both have just or are just about to celebrate their 35th birthday, and it’s left them in a foul mood. So they do what any rational pair would do when forced to contemplate difficult questions about their lives – they get very drunk and go to bed together.

Welcome to the Renaissance

Something Rotten – Marriott Theatre

Where do these talented actors get all this energy? This production, smartly directed by Scott Weinstein and choreographed within an inch of its life by the brilliant Alex Sanchez, is absolutely slap-happy and unstoppable. If the energy of this cast could be harnessed, these actor/singer/dancers could probably generate enough power to light up all of Lincolnshire. In other words, this impressive, brilliantly cast ensemble of triple-threats is astounding. Looking as if they’re having the time of their lives, these two-dozen generously gifted ensemble members unleash so much unbridled mirth and mayhem that theatergoers will wonder when they have time to breathe. Indeed, by intermission, the audience feels as if they need a shot of oxygen, simply from laughing so much. 

We’re All Alike

The Band’s Visit – Broadway in Chicago

Try to imagine this situation. You’ve traveled many miles, as part of a small musical ensemble, to play a concert in a remote, little town. There’s danger in the air because of the political tension and social unrest that’s occurred over decades. You’re limited in your command of the language and, because of your nationality, you’re looked upon with suspicion. Then you suddenly learn that, because of a miscommunication, you’re actually in the wrong town. To make matters worse, it’s a desert village from which there’s no bus for at least 24 hours. You and your band are tired, hungry and pretty irritable from a long day of travel and waiting around. Then you learn there’s not even a hotel where you can stay. What to do?